In an effort to expand Nintendo’s user base to MORE than every single man, woman, and child in the world, it was just announced by The New York Times that Netflix, everybody’s favorite Blockbuster replacement, is officially coming to Wii.

No longer content to be the only next-gen (*cough*) system without Netflix capability, Reggie and Co. are hopping on the bandwagon. They’re even going the PS3 route and requiring you to have a special disc in the system to access the Netflix queue. There’s just ONE little problem…

The Wii isn’t tough enough to support streaming HD video. According to the Times, “Some analysts and industry observers expect Nintendo to announce a new Wii HD version of its console next year” (despite Fils-Aime’s constant assertions of the opposite). Once Nintendo supports both HD and Netflix, the ground will be a lot more level with its technologically advanced counterparts… especially since both Sony and Microsoft are debuting motion controllers within the near future.

Adding a possible 28 million Wii owners to Netflix’s current 11 million subscribers could be the nail in the coffin of brick-and-mortar movie stores. If nothing else, it might encourage more Wii owners to take their systems online. Maybe they’ll even buy some WiiWare while they’re there?

Obligatory “will be using this on 360/PS3 for better picture.” I’m glad Netflix Streaming is taking over, though.

I remember when I was 8 years old my friend’s dad said on-demand subscription based movies, with thousands of choices, was the future. It only took what, like 14 years to improve on the awful “Pay-Per-View” service?